England Cricket 2022

There might be something wrong with Jacks but the fact that he has only bowled 8 overs in the match, as opposed to Root's 26, otherwise suggests that Stokes has reached the stage of not trusting Jacks. That does rather make Jacks superfluous as there's no point having two average off spinners in the side, one of which the skipper is reluctant to use. 

However, with Stokes clearly unable or unwilling to bowl because of his knee (not one ball delivered by him in the match) we are in the situation of either bringing Foakes back or leaving Pope with the gloves for the final Test and playing Ahmed. I hope that we give the latter a chance but that has to be a short term solution so far as the gloves are concerned because, as much as Pope has done admirably well, he is no long term solution - too many balls are being clung to the chest as a precaution and doing the job clearly affected his ability to bat in his normal batting situation in the second innings.  

Robinson bowls the first over with the new ball and Root, rather than Anderson, with it from the other end

Addick Addict said:

The Root experiment isn't working and with 96 now needed, we probably need to get Anderson or Wood on while the new ball is still hard

Instead Leach comes on for Root

Anderson has come on and found one edge that went through the slips and then Wood is on at the other end - without a single slip. But the plan to ball nothing but short stuff to Nawaz works as he gets a tickle down the leg side to Pope.

290-6 with 65 required and Shakeel on 93*

Leuth said:

That's a 50/50 decision, reckon his finger might have been dislodged by the ground, maybe the ball stayed in his gloves though 

Now here's the thing. I agree but the standing Umpire's soft signal only now applies if the technology isn't working so should the benefit have gone to the batsman? Pakistan probably believe so and I think we would too.

An excellent burst from Wood nevertheless in dismissing Pakistan's two potential match winners. It's lunch and Pakistan still require 64 runs with just 3 wickets in hand 

Abrar trying to ensure that he gets MOM by winning the game for Pakistan

We only have one review left because of that absurd decision to take one just before lunch when the ball wouldn't have hit two sets of stumps. We are almost in Tim Paine territory. But not quite.

Prior to that ball England were 1.46 and Pakistan 3.15. Now the prices are 1.11 and 9.2 respectively

Updated stats:

England seamers: 23 wickets @ 21.91
England spinners: 17 wickets @ 49.82

Pakistan seamers: 10 wickets @ 57.30
Pakistan spinners: 25 wickets @ 35.04

If Ahmed has to carry the drinks in the next Test then it really is the case that he is there to make him feel part of the England squad and as a distraction for the offers he received to play T20 this winter. He might have to bat at 7 if Stokes can't bowl but he is a genuine all rounder and it's not as if Jacks has contributed massively in that regard (av 22.25)